U.S. stock indices ended Friday's session with mixed results, while the Nasdaq Composite Index achieved its eighth consecutive day of gains. Lebanon and Israel have agreed to hold their first meeting at the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday to discuss declaring a ceasefire and setting a date for negotiations to commence. For the week, all three major indices posted solid gains: the S&P 500 rose 3.56%, marking its best weekly performance since last November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 3.04% for the week, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 4.68%.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 269.23 points, or 0.56%, to finish at 47,916.57. The Nasdaq Composite gained 80.48 points, or 0.35%, closing at 22,902.89. The S&P 500 declined by 7.77 points, or 0.11%, settling at 6,816.89. Shares of CoreWeave, Inc. surged 10.87%, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company closed 1.4% higher. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index edged up 0.3%, with NIO Inc. shares rising 7% and Li Auto Inc. gaining 5.03%.
In European markets, Germany's DAX 30 index added 34.98 points, or 0.15%, closing at 23,789.56. Britain's FTSE 100 index fell 11.05 points, or 0.10%, to end at 10,592.43. France's CAC 40 rose 13.80 points, or 0.17%, finishing at 8,259.60. The Euro Stoxx 50 index increased by 28.06 points, or 0.48%, settling at 5,924.35. Spain's IBEX 35 climbed 76.00 points, or 0.42%, to close at 18,180.90. Italy's FTSE MIB index advanced 260.51 points, or 0.55%, ending the session at 47,588.50.
In Asian equity markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.84%, while South Korea's KOSPI index gained 1.4%.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin increased by 1.7% to $73,165.81. Ethereum rose over 2.5%, trading at $2,253.10.
Oil prices declined, with WTI crude falling 1.3% to settle below $97 per barrel. For the week, WTI crude dropped approximately 13.4%, marking its largest weekly decline in six years. Brent crude also closed lower, at around $95 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.18% to settle at 98.645. By the close of New York forex trading, one euro could buy $1.1725, up from $1.1710 in the previous session. One pound sterling traded at $1.3463, higher than the previous session's $1.3446. The dollar bought 159.28 Japanese yen, up from 158.98 yen. It traded at 0.7893 Swiss francs, down from 0.7904, and at 1.3830 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3822. Against the Swedish krona, the dollar was at 9.2781, down from 9.2799.
In precious metals, spot gold edged down 0.33% to settle at $4,749.41 per ounce. Spot silver gained 0.67%, closing at $75.879 per ounce.
On the macroeconomic front, surging oil prices drove a significant increase in U.S. inflation for March. Data from the U.S. Labor Department released Friday showed the Consumer Price Index rose 3.3% year-over-year, significantly higher than February's 2.4% reading. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy categories, increased by 2.6%, slightly below market expectations of 2.7%. Energy prices surged 12.5% compared to a year ago, a sharp acceleration from February's 0.5% increase. Gasoline prices rose 18.9%, while fuel oil prices jumped 44.2%. The report marked the first to reflect the impact of the Iran conflict on U.S. inflation. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted shipping and pushed up crude oil and gasoline prices last month. Economists warn that even if the Strait fully reopens, energy and commodity prices that rose following the outbreak of conflict are unlikely to immediately revert to previous levels. Businesses often react quickly to raise prices but are slower to lower them. Lindsey Piegza, Chief Economist at Stifel, stated, "Most of these effects will likely take one to two months to materialize."
Former President Trump commented that the U.S. is militarily prepared if Iran does not cooperate in negotiations. He stated that U.S. naval vessels are being reloaded with "the best ammunition" to resume strikes against Iran should peace talks fail. Trump's remarks came shortly before the U.S. Vice President boarded Air Force Two en route to Islamabad for peace talks. When asked about the likelihood of the talks succeeding, Trump said in a telephone interview, "We'll know in about 24 hours. We'll know very soon." He added, "We are doing a reset. We are loading up the warships with the finest ammunition and the most advanced, highest-performing weapons—even better than what we used before, and we had already devastated them." "If we don't reach a deal, we will use them, and we will use them very effectively." Trump also expressed skepticism, saying, "You are dealing with people we don't know if they are telling the truth. In front of us, they say they will give up all nuclear weapons, everything is gone. Then they go out and tell the media, 'No, we want to enrich uranium.' So we will find out."
Plans to boost U.S. chip exports, a key initiative, may be facing obstacles within the bureaucracy. The goal of significantly increasing sales of U.S. artificial intelligence chips in the global market is potentially at risk due to licensing bottlenecks, staff departures, and a lack of policy guidance at the federal agency overseeing exports of sensitive technology worth tens of billions of dollars. Over the past year, the Bureau of Industry and Security, a small but powerful agency within the Commerce Department, has taken on increasing bureaucratic responsibilities central to the economic agenda. However, while facing these growing demands, the bureau has lost dozens of experienced staff in the past year, leading to a turnover rate nearing 20% among personnel handling regulation and license approvals, according to more than 20 sources familiar with the matter. They also indicated that tighter control by senior officials over individual licenses and a lack of clear policy direction have further hampered the agency's operational capacity.
The Food Industry Association commented on the March CPI data. The data showed that food-at-home prices decreased 0.2% month-over-month and were up 1.9% over the past 12 months. Andy Harig, Vice President of Tax, Trade, Sustainability, and Policy Development at FMI, stated, "Today's CPI data shows a decline in grocery inflation, which is welcome news for consumers." He added, "While the data is encouraging, recent instability in global energy markets is driving up production costs across the food supply chain, potentially creating upward pressure on grocery prices in the future. Fuel is a critical input at every stage of the food system... As energy prices rise, so do the costs of producing and distributing food. Even in this uncertain environment, consumers continue to show resilience."
In corporate news, newly issued junk bonds from CoreWeave, Inc. rose as investor optimism grew. Buoyed by deals with several major technology companies, the cloud infrastructure firm's junk bonds gained. The bond offering size was increased from an initially planned $1.25 billion during the syndication process. Data showed that another convertible bond issuance, which was also increased in size to $3.5 billion and marketed the same day, had not yet begun trading. This financing round is the latest for the company, occurring just hours after CoreWeave announced a new agreement to supply artificial intelligence computing products to Meta Platforms. On Friday, Anthropic agreed to lease data center capacity from CoreWeave to handle growing demand for its AI services.
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